by Sam Amick, USA TODAY Sports

by Sam Amick, USA TODAY Sports

Minnesota Timberwolves forward Kevin Love refractured his right hand in a game at Denver on Thursday, the team announced on Saturday.

Love, who missed the first nine games of the regular season after breaking the third and fourth metacarpals in his hand doing knuckle push-ups in mid-October, broke the third metacarpal this time, and a timetable for his return has not been set.

An MRI taken by the team on Saturday revealed the injury, and he will see a specialist later this week to get a better assessment of how long he'll be out.

The Timberwolves, in turn, continue to catch all the wrong kinds of breaks.

When Love came back and was followed by point guard Ricky Rubio after he tore his ACL in March, Minnesota had every reason to think they'd surge into the second half of the season and become a legitimate playoff contender. But not only have they lost five of nine games since Rubio returned, but back problems have now sidelined the point guard and the Timberwolves - who are 15-14 overall and currently in ninth place in the Western Conference - are now without their franchise centerpiece yet again.

Minnesota got more bad news Saturday night when center Nikola Pekovic left the game against the Portland Trail Blazers in the third quarter with a left hip strain. Pekovic had tallied 21 points and 15 rebounds in less than 22 minutes of action before departing.

Love had been inconsistent thus far this season, averaging 18.3 points while shooting just 35.2% overall and 21.7% from three-point range (while taking 5.1 attempts from beyond the arc per game). Love's 14 rebounds per game pace is second in the league behind Cleveland's Anderson Varejao (14.4).